


Talent Show

by QueenPlatypus



Category: Open Heart (Visual Novels)
Genre: Apologies, Co-workers, Conflict, Dancing, F/M, Friendship, K-pop References, Talent Shows
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-06
Updated: 2020-12-06
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:27:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27910744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenPlatypus/pseuds/QueenPlatypus
Summary: Hailey and her roommates are participating in the hospital's talent show while she's upset with Ethan.
Relationships: Ethan Ramsey/Main Character (Open Heart)
Kudos: 6





	Talent Show

Every once a year, the hospital threw a talent show for its staff when the holidays were soon to be there. This year was no different and, as usual, the top three winners would get some prizes: a gift-card for the third rank, a fully-paid meal at one of Boston’s best restaurants for two and, for the first rank, a whole week of full-paid vacation.

Of course, most of the attendings didn’t participate because of lack of energy or want, so it was usually the residents and the interns along with nurses that usually filled all the spots in the talent show. Since it was possible to go in teams, this is exactly what Hailey and her roommates decided to do to, hopefully, get the vacation. Exception made of Elijah who decided he wanted to simply sit back and enjoy the show.

Because of Hailey AND Aurora’s dancing backgrounds, the four girls decided to go for a dance number. And because Jackie and Sienna barely had any experience dancing for real, Sienna suggested they simply covered a dance routine from a k-pop girl group: if they went for this technique, they wouldn’t need to come up with a brand new choreography and would just need to get down the moves shown on the many videos on YouTube.

After a few days of debating, the roommates settled on one track from the group named BLACKPINK which was called _Lovesick Girls_. At first, Jackie resisted it a bit, but she finally agreed, upon seeing the dance, that the music wasn’t that all bad and the dance, with some practice, could be figured out. Besides, since they were only four members anyway, it was much easier to follow.

First, they each picked one members they would cover. Aurora was to be Lisa, which fitted her perfectly since she was the roommate with the most dancing experience, Jackie was stepping up in Jisoo’s shoes, Sienna would be Rosé which left Hailey handling Jennie’s part.

Once their ‘group name’ was added to the registering board for the show, the girls started practicing every day after work and when they were able to take breaks together for weeks prior to the talent show. At first, it wasn’t that easy to do, but as time went on, the four of them started to break the choreo down, handling the moves more smoothly and easily than when they started.

It was now the show’s eve and Hailey had just finished her shift. Gathering her stuff to go to her team’s last practice before the big event, she turned her head in Ethan’s direction. He was focused, reading something on the screen of his computer.

“So… Any special plans for tomorrow night?”

“Not especially. Why?” He asked.

“Because now you have no excuse to not come to the talent show!”

There was a pause from his side before he spoke up again.

“No.”

“What do you mean, no? You have to!”

“Hailey, you being in it doesn’t mean I have to. I’ve never seen any of them ever since I was an intern here. I’m not going to start now.”

“Well… I’d be very disappointed if you didn’t come.”

She walked up to him. He finally looked up to her.

“Don’t you want to be a supportive boyfriend?”

‘More than I am?”

She huffed, starting to get annoyed by his behavior.

“You pushing me to ‘be the best doctor I can be’ doesn’t count. Being supportive also means… being there for the other no matter what it is.”

“You’re asking me to sit through a show animated by Zaid of all people for two hours instead of doing my work.”

“Well… Yeah! It’s not like it’s that much asking! Relaxing once in a while isn’t going to hurt you.”

“No, but I have no interest in watching the residents or the interns make fools of themselves in front of…”

“Actually, you know what? Don’t come. Wouldn’t want you to die out of boredom while I’m making a fool out of myself with my friends!” She said, turning her heels and walking out.

“Hailey…”

She ignored him and stormed out of the office, slamming the door right behind her. Ethan sighed.

***

The show started fifteen minutes ago and featured two numbers: Bryce juggling with many objects while being on a unicycle followed by Gary who decided to do stand-up comedy, roasting Jackie among other people.

While she waited for their turn (they were the seventh to go on the stage), she peeked through the curtains, hoping to find Ethan sitting somewhere in the room. Unfortunately, he wasn’t there. She sighed. She had not talk to him ever since she stormed out of his office the day before, but still, not seeing him was disappointing to say the least.

“Forget about him, Hails. You don’t need him to see you to give out the best performance.” Said Aurora beside her.

“I know… But… I hoped… Is that dumb?”

“No, it’s not. But… You know what you can do?”

“What?”

“Pour this energy into the dance. It’s called _Lovesick Girls_ for a reason. This way, when we win the first prize, you’ll have the best payback by making him unable to see you for a whole week.”

“Hmm… You’re right. We got this! We’re so going to win this thing!”

“That’s the spirit.”

Waiting for their turn, the four roommates practiced a little more the hardest parts of the dance, only stopping when Baz went on the stage, meaning they were next. The attending decided to go for comedy as well, sitting a puppet of Zaid on his leg and making him talk. Watching him go from the backstage, the four girls couldn’t help but laugh, as did the people sitting in the room. The only one fuming was Zaid himself, unable to stop his twin from ridiculing him yet again.

Baz got off the stage in a wave of applause as Zaid stepped in, sighing and throwing his brother a dirty look. Baz passed the girls.

“Good luck out there, I warmed them up for you! I’m sure you’ll do great!”

“Thanks, Baz, we’ll kill it!” Replied Sienna.

“I’m sure you will.”

He walked away and the girls focused on Zaid.

“Thank you again Baz for humiliating me in front of our colleagues… Much appreciated. Anywho, now we head in another direction, a more upbeat one if I trust in what Ines told me earlier.”

“Yeah, exactly!” She screamed from the crowd.

“O… kay. Anyway, you now get a dance number from four residents who conveniently live together. Which is why they called themselves ‘The Roomies’. So… Love it or hate it, here they come.”

As Zaid exited the stage, the four residents came in, positioning themselves. The nerves were starting to settle in, but Hailey used them to push herself and give this performance everything.

Because not only did she wanted it to go well for her own sake as an ex-performer, but also because she knew Naveen was somewhere in the room. And if someone could tell Ethan what a good show he missed, it had to be him.

***

From outside the door, Ethan was able to hear the music playing. He cursed in silence, knowing he was already late for her number.

Truth was, a few minutes ago, he was still thinking that he would not go, no matter what she said about it. But then… He remembered not only their disagreement the previous night, but also the sickening feeling of having her being mad at him. Besides… In a way, she was right. And since he loved her, the least he could do was sit during the rest of the show and watch her dance with her friends to a song he didn’t know.

He pushed the door and entered the dark room, turning his head towards the stage where she and her roommates were dancing to what looked like the pre-chorus. He sighed, glad he got there soon enough to not have missed the biggest part of the dance number.

“Psst, Ethan!”

He turned his head, spotting Naveen and hurried towards him, taking the seat next to him.

“Glad you changed your mind.”

Ethan rolled his eyes, reporting his gaze to the stage just as the chorus started. And then, his eyes widened as he followed Hailey dance to the chorus. He barely watched the others, only looking at her move perfectly to the beat of the song. He didn’t understand a word other than ‘we are the lovesick girls’ at first, but it looked like she knew all of them as she danced in perfect harmony to the song. She looked in control, as if she had done this

Finally some English words settled in and he was able to follow a little more what the song was about. Aurora stepped up, dancing another part in English with as much assurance as she had with her patients.

_No love letters, no X’s and O’s_

_No love, never, my exes know_

_No diamond rings, that set in stone_

_To the left, better left alone_

Then, Hailey came forward and Ethan was instantly drawn to her as she danced with a severe look on her face while lip-syncing the lyrics.

_Didn’t want to be a princess, I’m priceless_

_A prince not even on my list_

_Love is a drug that I quit_

_No doctor could help when I’m lovesick_

While the other doctors in the room whistled, Naveen chuckled. Ethan’s eyes widened. He had a feeling that Hailey now knew he was there and that, somehow, what she had just mouthed was directed right at him. He gulped.

“So, what do you think of the performance so far?”

“It’s… something.”

“Alright then, I’ll let you watch Hailey and figure out a way to apologize to her.”

“How did you…”

“Everyone knows.”

Ethan sighed. Of course, everyone knew already. What was new?

He kept on watching the performance unfold, his gaze following the blonde as she gave all of her energy in the dance while looking slightly more relaxed now. Her smile was easygoing and it looked like she was genuinely having fun while the song was ending. Once again, while half-covering her face with her hand, she mouthed the last lyrics.

_But we’re still looking for love_

As the heart shape the four girls were tracing with their fingers closed, Ethan decided to stand up and be the first to applaud. Of course, due to the good performance, he was quickly followed by the rest of the spectators. The four roommates bowed down gratefully, smiling wildly.

But then, Hailey’s gaze settled on Ethan and it faded, instead getting replaced with a frown and a ‘you’ll have to do better than this’ look. As they got off the stage, the whole room turned towards him, smiling knowingly. He sat back down. Now, he was certain that there was still a lot of road ahead of him.

***

A few hours later, everyone was celebrating the show ending at Donahue’s. Without any surprise, the first prize’s winners were ‘The Roomies’, which made the four girls insanely happy knowing that what they did was loved by all the spectators.

“Normally, I’d be sad that you beat me, but… You were good.” Admitted Bryce.

“Please, ‘were’? We are amazing!” Huffed Jackie.

“What you are is the lovesick giiiiirls!” Sang Elijah.

Hailey laughed, along with the others before taking another sip of her scotch, settling the now-empty glass down.

“Hailey?”

She turned her head to see Ethan.

“Oh, Dr. Ramsey. Is there something you want?”

“I… Listen, can we talk?”

“Sure. I’ll be right back, guys.”

She followed him outside, only now noticing he was hiding something from her view. When he stopped, he turned around, presenting her a flower bouquet.

“What? You bought me flowers? Do you really think this will…”

“No. I bought them because you did a good job at the show and, usually, you bring flowers to the star performer of the night.”

He handed the bouquet to her and, reluctantly, she took it from him, bringing them up to her nose to sniff them.

“They smell good, thank you. Is that all?”

“No. This was a start. Because… You were right and you deserve an apology.”

“Okay.”

“So… I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings. To put it midly. I know it doesn’t excuse how cold I was towards all of this yesterday, but… I’m really not used to all of this. I’m aware a relationship is two people trying, so… What I want to say is that I’ll put in the work to make this, what we have, work. I don’t want to lose you because I acted poorly and… I just want you to know it.”

She nodded.

“Okay. Anything else?”

“You were really good on that stage.”

“Hmm… How good?”

“Good enough to make me want to be the man, and not the doctor, to help when you’re lovesick.”

Finally, she smiled, hugging the bouquet.

“Okay.”

He smiled for a second before remembering what he was supposed to be doing.

“I’m really sorry, Hails. And I’ll promise I’ll be better not only next time, but every other time.”

She nodded, stepping closer to him.

“That’s all I want.”

She kissed his cheek.

“I have to get back… Wanna come?”

“I think I’ll let you enjoy your night with your friends. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Alright… Any plans tomorrow night?”

“Yes. Whatever you have in mind.”

She grinned.

“Good.”

Not adding anything, she went back inside the bar, going straight for the table she shared with her friend group. They couldn’t help but notice two things as she sat down: the smile that had returned to her face along with the bouquet.

“So… Everything has been settled between you two?” Asked Sienna.

Hailey smiled cheekily.

“Let’s just say… I’m not so lovesick anymore.”

Sienna grinned as well before side-hugging her with one arm as she flagged down Reggie for two drinks. The night went on and Hailey was finally reassured.


End file.
